Iceland earthquakes prompt warning near Hekla volcano
FILE - In this aerial image from video made Saturday May 8 2010 a renewed column of ash rises from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano. (AP Photo/ APTN)
Published Tuesday, Mar. 26, 2013
LONDON -- Icelandic police say seismic activity near the Hekla volcano has prompted them to declare an "uncertainty phase" -- the lowest level of civil warning.
Monitoring of the area in southern Iceland has been increased. Police advise people not to hike in the area, though it is not forbidden.
Vidir Reynisson, the department manager for civil protection, said Tuesday that a swarm of earthquakes prompted the warning but are not necessarily a sign of pending eruption. Scientists worry that Hekla is overdue for an eruption; in recent decades it has erupted roughly every 10 years, most recently in 2000.
Concern about seismic activity in the north Atlantic nation has grown since April 2010, when ash from the Eyjafjallajokul volcano grounded flights across Europe for days, disrupting travel for 10 million people.
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Increased seismic activity around Hekla volcano raises concern
Posted on 26 March 2013
According to geologists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the seven earthquakes were measured some 5 km from the top of the volcano and at a depth of 11 to 12 km. However, no magma movement has been measured. The volcano is being closely monitored at the moment by geologists who decided to alert authorities as Hekla eruption usually happen with very little warning, and the mountain itself is a popular hike among locals and tourists alike.
The warning issued is the lowest out of three and is raised in order to initiate an appropriate and rapid emergency response in the case of an eruption. Internet users can monitor the activity around the volcano themselves with a live webcam of Hekla. Quite reassuringly, what looks like smoke at the top of the volcano is in fact just a cloud (at least for the moment).\
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